Professional Development

Professional Development and Outreach

SUPA provides engaging, high quality professional development opportunities year round for partner schools and teachers. Additionally, SUPA hosts information sessions for guidance, teachers and administrators to provide feedback and learn about what’s new at Project Advance.

Summer Institute

Summer Institute offers teachers the opportunity to train and be certified to teach a Syracuse University course in the high school. Teachers who successfully complete the training are considered adjunct professors of Syracuse University.

SI usually lasts 4-5 days depending on the course. Teachers will be responsible for the room and board, but there is no cost for the training itself. Teachers can also use this as an opportunity for earn graduate credit at a significant tuition reduction.

Reduced Tuition for Summer Courses

SUPA teachers are eligible for the reduced tuition rate of $210/course for any SU summer course, as long as the following criteria are met:

The teacher has met all the requirements to become certified/maintain certification as a SUPA instructor.

The course is directly related to the SU course(s) the instructor teachers.

The course has met its minimum enrollment requirements (for example, if the course has a minimum enrollment of 15, the SUPA instructor must be the 16th)

The course must have vacant seats available

The course must be under its maximum enrollment

The summer course instructor must give his/her consent for the high school instructor to take the class

Course Seminars

Each semester a certified instructor offers a Syracuse University course, they are expected to attend a course-specific seminar to maintain their certification. Seminars consist of general information and a chance to interact with the course faculty coordinator and SUPA administrator. Often, an expert in the field will be a guest speaker. teachers have the opportunity to earn CTLE hours as well.

Seminars are usually held twice per semester, once upstate (usually at SU) and once in NYC to ease travel burden on downstate teachers.

Workshops

Workshops are offered to teachers from partner schools. There is usually a reasonable cost associated.

Special Topics Workshops are facilitated by Syracuse University faculty and are open to secondary educators for discipline-specific professional development experience. Certified SUPA instructors have the added option of enrolling in these workshops for SU graduate credit at a significantly reduced tuition rate.

To help middle and high school instructors teach skills that anticipate the complex reading and writing practices students will encounter as they move through the grade levels and embark on their college and professional careers, SUPA has developed “Core Strategies: Preparing College-Ready Readers & Writers,” a set of three interrelated professional development workshops.

Graduate Credit and Tuition Assistance

Certified instructors who wish to further their studies in their chosen field can apply to receive tuition assistance from Project Advance.

To be eligible for a Syracuse University Project Advance Adjunct Instructor Scholarship, teachers must be: (1) teaching at least one section of an SU course during the academic year; and (2) SUPA certified and in good standing. Syracuse University Project Advance reserves the right to limit scholarships as well as the amount of scholarships.

Feedback Sessions

All feedback sessions are a chance to meet with a SUPA administrator to ask questions, learn whats new at SUPA including new course offering or policy changes, and engage with other schools to share information, best practices and problem solve together. Creating a community is a big part of what SUPA does and these sessions are an important part of that.

Advisory Boards

SUPA holds Advisory Board sessions, where teachers and administrators are invited to provide us with their feedback on how the program is working at their schools. Advisory Boards are held every other year, both Upstate and Downstate and usually last a half-day. These meetings are invaluable as we are constantly seeking feedback to improve our program.

Guidance Sessions

Guidance information sessions are held every other year. These meetings are open to guidance department personnel to keep them informed of new course offerings, policy changes and to recieve any feedback they have to offer on the program.

New Partner Roundtable Sessions

New partner schools (less than 2 years of partnership) are able to offer their thoughts on the program in the New Partner Roundtable discussions. Often new schools have specific questions or needs and are able to meet with a SUPA administrator to get more information.